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Happy New Year, everyone!
I was able to sneak in one more hunt before my winter break ended. I kicked off 2019 with another trip to my favorite winter location, Bayfront Park/Brownies Beach. The tides and weather looked favorable, not too cold and relatively low tide very early in the morning. I came more equipped than ever, complete with my new hunting gear that I got for Christmas, including a pair of chest waders (finally!), a sling pack, and a hat from the Calvert Marine Museum with an awesome Hemipristis design. I was one of the first to arrive, and quickly made use of the waders by rounding the cove that can be virtually impossible to pass without them. My waders feature a large mesh zipper pocket on the chest, and that proved to be remarkably useful. No more carrying around tupperware to hold my finds! I stepped foot on the beach about ten minutes before sunrise, and I was blessed with a gorgeous display of colors as the sun shone through the clouds. A few fellow hunters passed me, but I kept my head down and walked slowly, carefully examining every inch of the beach. I was finding a good deal of smalltooth sand tigers with awesome cusplets, but nothing too big for the first hour or so. Even though the majority of teeth found here are small, you can get some pretty stunning colors, not to mention the mind-blowing quality of preservation of some of the teeth. Even after millions of years, the teeth are still sharp enough to cut you fairly easily. That's something that never ceases to amaze me. Anyway, I soon stumbled across a larger tooth laying right out in the open, high up the beach in the dryer sand. It was a very pretty Isurus desori, a mako shark tooth! I happily dropped it into the pouch and kept moving.
I continued to find small and medium sized teeth for the majority of the morning. At one point, I picked up a complete dolphin epiphysis, or "cookie" as many collectors call them. I had found a few fragments of them at this location before, but this was my first one to be fully intact. I found it increasingly difficult to navigate the beach as the tide came in, as there were many fresh tree falls and cliff slides due to the recent weather conditions. I decided to call it a day at around noon, so in total I hunted for about 5 hours. My haul consisted of a plethora of sand tigers, many tigers and requiems, a handful of small hemis, a few makos and hammerheads, one broken cow shark tooth, a few odontocete teeth, ray plates, the cookie, and a nice gastropod shell. A pretty typical Brownies haul. I ran into a few other collectors, none who seemed to have found anything incredible, but I always love talking fossils with fellow enthusiasts! I was even able to identify another hunter's find for her, which I always thoroughly enjoy as well. Overall, I had a very nice first trip of the new year and couldn't think of a better way to wrap up my winter break before heading back to school. Thanks for reading my report, and please check out the Hop 5, posted below. I'm starting something new with my trip reports in 2019! I HOPPE you'll enjoy! Sorry, I just can't help myself when it comes to puns. Hoppe hunting!
~David

Yesterday (January 2nd) was only my second trip to Calvert Cliffs. I'm pretty new to fossil collecting, but thanks to the wonderful advice and reading the greatly informative posts from members such as @Darktooth @FossilsAnonymous @WhodamanHD @racerzeke @KimTexan and @paxhunter I had a lot of success and it was a much more productive trip than my first. Below is a brief summary and some pictures of what I found:
I woke up, put on a few layers clothing, and had my coffee at 3:45am. After my morning pipe (tobacco...I actually make briar tobacco pipes as a hobby) I got in my pre-loaded truck and headed south at 4:45am. I made good time on the drive down as I hit 695 and got around Baltimore before the morning rush. At 7:10am I arrived at Brownies Beach and pulled in to a parking lot with only two other cars in it. After putting on my full waders, I grabbed my sifter and headed towards the beach. I planned this trip so that I could arrive midweek and get there early enough to catch some of the low tide (tides times were not friendly this week, but I start teaching classes next week so it was this week or wait until spring). Sunrise was at 7:24, but there was more than enough light to see...and what a sight it was. When I entered the beach area the tide was way, way out. I couldn't believe how far out it was, as it was past two small sandbars (if I get my GoPro video edited I will post it).
Once I was on the beach I headed south towards the cliffs. I hurried through the beach area because I wanted to be by the cliffs with the tide so low. I know I missed teeth along the beach, but I wanted to get to the cliffs with the tide being so far out where I could hopefully find some larger teeth than what are common at the beach area. As I neared the end of the beach I ran into one woman who was there just to relax and walk on the beach. We said good morning and I knew who one of the two cars in the parking lot belonged to.
Once I went around the point and turned my eyes close to shell line and started looking. Because of all the wonderful advice from this forum I had a much better idea of what I was looking for and how to best look. After a few minutes I had some ray plates, very small teeth, and my first ever vert. It wasn't even 7:30 and I knew it was going to be a good day. As I made my way down the shore line that I figured had been pretty well picked over from people being off over the holidays, I remembered a forum member saying 'you need to look in the places that others don't'. I approached a fallen tree that I remembered from my first trip a few weeks ago, and with the tide being so low almost the entire tree was exposed so I got down on my hands and knees and started looking at some of the gaps between the tree and sand...then it happened. You know when you day dream and picture yourself finding a great tooth or fossil? Well that's what happened as my eyes saw a pristine Mako just laying there (pictures below). I know its not a huge tooth or a meg, but to me being new to the hobby this was completely awesome and a trip maker. I think I still have a smile on my face from finding it.
As I continued down the beach I collected many more teeth from various sharks. I couldn't believe it when I found an awesome cow shark tooth (my second trip maker) laying out in the open about 8 feet up the beach. Beside it was another good tooth as well that went in my pouch. Around 10:30 I ran into a very friendly gentleman and we chatted a bit. We talked about the weather and the cliffs, what he had found (a few hemis), and he told me a story of a fall he had witnessed a few years ago that was too close for comfort. A chunk of clay the size of a car fell and nearly crushed him, but luckily he heard some soil falling and he ran straight out into the bay right before the cliff fell. Although the clay chunk did't hit him, the water threw him up into the air when the clay hit. His friend who was a down the cliffs said he heard it and it sounded like a car crash....I didn't get this gentleman's name but I feel like I read his cliff fall story on here, so if you know who it may have been please let me know.
I continued south until the tide started coming in pretty far and I thought it best to head back towards the beach since I didn't know how far it would come in or how high the water would get. I continued my search along the way back and made it to my truck around 2pm. I took a short break, ditched my sifter, texted my wife, checked email, watched a truck with two high school kids pull in to smoke a pipe (although this one wasn't filled with tobacco), and headed back out for one more quick trip down and back as the tide started to go back out. It wasn't until about 3:30pm when two more local fossil collectors came up behind me and we said hello and chatted. All in all, I only ran into 3 other collectors during the day so there was not a lot of competition (although I do like the interesting conversation). After finding a few more teeth and interesting fossils dusk approached and I headed back to my truck. After putting my gear away and changing into some dry clothes I started my trek north after a fantastic start to 2019. Below are some pictures of my finds from the day. I know what many of the teeth and other fossils are, but if you can ID something that a newbie like me probably wouldn't know then please do so as it will help me get better with this hobby. Thanks!

On a very drizzly Sunday, April 15, @Chomper and I headed out to Brownie's. We met one fellow fossil hunter who told us that a three-inch megalodon had been found just the previous day. We also encountered another fossil hunter heading out who was happy to show his wonderful collection of one-to-two-inch hemipristis teeth! One of the reasons I love heading to Brownie's is that it always seems to have some wonderful finds!
I didn't expect any one-inch teeth or megalodons, knowing that the beach had probably been pretty well picked over that weekend, but I was surprised at what I found in just two hours. The water was choppy, and made looking kind of difficult, but the waves also washed in a beautiful goblin? sand tiger? tooth and my first periotic bone.
Something I don't like about Brownie's is how sneaky the tide is when it comes back in. I don't seem to notice until suddenly, I find myself trudging through more water than I expected, and at times, I found myself slipping and falling where I couldn't see where I was placing my boots. Luckily, when I fell, the only casualty was my hand and coat sleeve, which got saturated.

I found this at Bayfront Park/Brownie's Beach in Maryland. This tooth is in decent condition aside from its lack of a root. This might make it more difficult to identify, but you can still identify from the crown alone sometimes. It is almost an inch in length. It has a smooth enamel with no striations, and a defined cutting edge that does not extend all the way up the crown. Rather, it stop about 2/3 of the way to the top on both sides. From a side view, the tooth does curve much like a Sand Tiger. It also has a very large protuberance at the top of the crown where it would meet the root. Although this is a characteristic of lower Hemipristis serra teeth, I do not believe that to be the correct identification because those teeth are conical and lack a cutting edge. Everything is leading me to believe that this is a massive Sand Tiger tooth, but I don't know for certain. I've gotten Sand Tiger teeth bigger than this from Purse State Park, but nothing even close to it at a Miocene exposure. If it had a root, it would be a pretty big chomper. Do Sand Tigers in this area/age get that big?
I've included pictures of the tooth from the front, both side views, and the back. I understand if it is difficult to identify because of the missing root (and possibly cusps). I would be thrilled if I turn out to be correct. That would make this tooth my biggest Sand Tiger from a Miocene site. If you can confirm that it is a Sand Tiger, I would love to hear what species it is from if that is at all possible to determine. There are so many species that come from Calvert Cliffs! Thanks for the help.

After a successful second trip to Brownie's Beach a.k.a. Bayfront Park, I thought I'd head out there again. This time I chose to go alone, and I got up extra early to get there as soon as the park opened. I ended up doing just that; it was just becoming visible as I pulled into the gravel lot. I was the first person to arrive, which I've never been before, so waking up early was totally worth it. When it comes to fossil hunting at popular locations, "the early bird gets the worm." Once there was enough visibility outside, I slipped on my boots and made my way down the trail to the beach. As soon as I saw the Bay, I had to drop all my gear and snap a few pictures. The horizon was absolutely stunning. The sun was about to begin rising, and when it did, I got an even prettier spectacle. Brownie's Beach has got to be among the most scenic fossil sites out there. Every time I get to marvel at the beauty of nature.
After I got a good look at the beautiful sunrise, I took advantage of arriving early and made my way South towards the cliffs. Sure enough, some of the best finds wash up over night and are simply laying on the surface, waiting for the first hunter to snatch them up. Within the first ten or twenty minutes of searching, I found a lovely Mako. As the sun took its place higher in the sky, more hunters began to show up, and a few eager ones passed me along the cliffs. They were moving really fast to be finding much, but maybe they were just trying to get to the end first. I continued to get some decent finds, and eventually made it all the way to private property sign. Technically, you could legally cross this by walking beneath the high tide line, but it was pretty far from the entrance so I decided it'd be a good point to turn around. The cliffs were very unstable that day, most likely due to the fact that the beach had been frozen over recently and was thawing out. Most of what fell while I was there was just small bits of sediment, but there was one time that really startled me. It wasn't a huge fall, but bigger than most and pretty loud. Luckily, although it was parallel to me, I wasn't close to the cliffs. Anyway, I made my way back towards the entrance and kept looking.
As the day went on, more and more people showed up. It was a really nice day for January, so people were out enjoying the weather. I tried sifting for a bit and didn't find too much as usual, but I did grab a few Sand Tigers that for some reason I hadn't found any of while surface hunting. I ran into a lot of fellow hunters, and got to share my finds with them as well as see theirs. There was a woman who was primarily searching in the cliffs, as dangerous as that can be, and managed to find a Mako that looked quite similar to mine. She told me about how she once found a massive whale vert, and showed me pictures. While doing another scan on the cliffs, I found a really nice Hemi with some killer serrations. It was not, however, the legendary Hemipristine.
I haven't quite explained this yet, so I'll go ahead and do it now: I am on the lookout for the fabled "Hemipristine", a massive and perfectly intact Hemipristis tooth with big, sharp serrations, and awesome colors. One day I will find it. One day.
Shortly after finding my Hemi, I ran into a man and his son and showed it to them. The man then showed me two huge and perfect Hemis, which he apparently had just found ahead of me. I was beyond frustrated, but tried to hide it. I'm sure many of you know that feeling when you were so close to a perfect find but it got snatched up by another hunter. My first time experiencing that. Near the end of the day I met @eannis6 with his water bottle full of teeth. We shared some of our finds; I showed him my strange lower Hemi and he showed me a Cow Shark tooth that looked just like the one I had just found. It was great talking to him, he's a real nice guy! In my last few hours of hunting, I walked beneath the cliffs some more, all the way to the sign. I started heading back as the sun was setting. I passed a few cliff falls that had their bases worn down from the waves, and they looked like mushrooms! I posted a picture below. Something else unusual I saw was a bright blue snake skin. As the tide was coming in, the waves became more violent, and it was washing up more gravel and searching material. Because of this, I got some good finds on the way back to the entrance including a few nice Tigers. Hunters left the park as some other people were just arriving for some pictures at sunset, including a man and his pregnant wife who had a professional photographer. Brownie's really is the place for a nice picture! The sunset wasn't quite visible because the sun rises over the Bay but doesn't set over it, but the colors in the sky were still very pretty.
I found some really nice Tigers, which I'll really never get tired of. The Sand Tigers weren't quite as abundant this go around, but I still got a couple sweet ones. This was my best trip for Hemis so far, as I got my biggest upper yet (at least I think it's an upper) and two slightly damaged but really cool lowers that have serrations. I snatched up a few nice Chesapectan and somewhat complete Turritella shells. I have those big molds from Purse, but I'm yet to find actual shells of the same caliber. I found two Makos, both slender and pretty cool. Just as I got my first upper Cow last trip to Brownie's, this time I got my first lower! I got one porpoise/dolphin tooth, and two broken shark verts. Other than that, I found some usual small ones like Lemons and Grays, but also a couple less common ones like some Hammerheads. And finally, I found some ray plates as always, but this time I found what is by far my biggest yet! Lots of finds, and really nice ones too! Apparently, two people found 3 inch Megs that day, some more proof that Brownie's has got them! I'd love to be the one to find one of them eventually.
Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Getting to the park early really paid off, and I'll definitely try and do the same in the future. I got to meet a lot of great people, and have a successful day out on the beach! I think I'll plan on heading out down south next, either to try out Westmoreland for the first time or maybe hit Stratford again. I hope you all enjoyed my report and my finds, and as always, Hoppe hunting!

Hello everyone! I recently took my fourth fossil hunting trip to the Calvert cliffs. It was not too cold, but there was ice actually washing up on the beach! I had waiders on and dressed warmly. I went with my friend and his sister. We searched all day, but the tide was just too high to fully search well. We had not found much at this point except a few very small teeth and some bone of some sort. As we walked back to the truck, I saw a small tooth sticking out of the cliff by my foot so I pulled it out. Next to it was the largest tooth I’ve ever found, embedded in cliff next to the other. I bent down and carefully got it out, and it was the largest tooth that I’ve ever found! It is a lower anterior mako! My friends sister then found a c hastalis. It was a great trip. Here are a couple of the finds! Thanks for reading!

After some careful thought and many references to suggestions from TFF members, I decided that my first fossil site would be Bayfront Park aka Brownie’s Beach in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. I packed up my newly bought expedition gear, sifter and all, and headed out. It was a little over an hour’s drive, which is not bad at all if you ask me. It was the day after Black Friday, so I had thought maybe everyone would just want to stay at home. But given it was a weekend, and families were in town for Thanksgiving and looking for something fun to do, my timing ended up not being ideal. When I showed up, the place was pretty busy, but I started collecting right away.
There were quite a few other collectors, and in talking to them I learned that small teeth were a common find here, and in very large quantities. I actually didn’t find anything for a while, due to a number of things. The conditions were mediocre, considering how crowded it was and how the beach was riddled with those pesky autumn leaves that make combing the tide lines a real pain. Also, I was able to be at the park during low tide, but I would hardly call it that, as the water barely retreated at all. Must’ve just been the wind direction. But regardless of the imperfect circumstances, I was able to get a nice handful of small fossilized shark chompers and ray plates.
My largest tooth, although still small, was actually the first one I found! A decent Physogaleus contortus I believe. Unlike the other teeth, I didn’t even have to sift for that one. Just found it chilling among some pebbles on the sand bank near the entrance of the park. The second I saw it I went “Ooh! That’s a tiger” and gladly picked up my first ever fossil. It will always hold a special place in my heart, even if it’s not the best find. Aside from my tiger, I found a bunch of Lemons, some real nice baby Sand Tigers, and I think some small Dusky. Again, I'm new so please correct my identifications. I also got my hands on some ray plates, and (although I had no idea what it was when I picked it up) a dolphin/porpoise tooth! I’m not quite sure what the black object next to it is, but I believe it to be something like a snail shell. If anyone has any clue what it is, let me know!
Overall, I’d say I had a good first fossil hunting trip at a really beautiful site and I got to meet some nice people who share my passion. I got some cool finds and I can’t wait to hunt some more. I won’t let the small teeth scare me away from Brownie’s; I definitely plan on returning in better conditions to get some bigger, better finds. I actually plan on going in the winter, not too long from now! Hope you enjoy the trip report. Hoppe fossil hunting!

Had a really fun short trip this morning to Calvert Cliffs. The tide was especially high and I didn't expect many people to be there due to this fact and upon arrival noticed only a few cars. Then I noticed a group of teenagers surrounding the gate with green shirts that said, "Beach Patrol." It was a weird scene. There where a bunch of tennage girls all on their phones and the teenage boy says, "It's $18 to pass." I only had $9. Luckily he let me in but it seems like a ridiculous price to pay to get beach access. Had a good trip and found more cow shark teeth than all my other trips combined. Not sure why. Cow shark teeth aren't as rare as a Meg or Chub but they aren't that easy to find. See below.
Horseshoe crabs moving in the surf. Almost stepped on them.
Very high tide at 7:00 am. I was out there with four others.
Excellent camouflage for a moth on the Choptank Formation.
Starting things off right by finding this Mako within the first five minutes of searching.
I can usually get down to that pier out there but the tides where exceptionally high today.
High tides and some freshly fallen trees.
This is a tree shark tooth. ;-)
Watched a guy step on this Hemi. Held my breath he wouldn't notice it then walked over and snatched it up!
Large turritella from the St. Mary's Formation. This stuff had Ecphora and other shells but they were to chalky and fragile to recover.
You know it's been a good day when you see this on your way back to the car.
My haul!
8 Cow Shark teeth of various sizes.
Hemis and Requiem.
Another nice Hemi up top.

Yesterday the tides were very far out in the bay. I think the multiple days of winds blowing south did it.
Finding things at Brownies/Bay front park was difficult because it's been picked over. I think the tide has been abnormally low for multiple days now.
I did find this small tooth at the end of my searching. It is the tooth in the upper left corner of the two pictures.
I'm pretty sure it is not a hemipristis, as the shape is not right. Am I looking at a very small Meg? thanks for any help..
It is about 1 inch long on the diagnol

Took a trip down to Calvert Cliffs today at Brownies Beach, and found this beauty. I covered a lot of ground in remote areas, but found this towards the entrance on my way out. Who knows how many people walked by it?
Someone on the beach identified it as a baby megalodon tooth, but I want to hear your guys' thoughts!
PS it's about 1.3 inches. Also cool to notice how the colors changed from when it was wet to dry.

Finally found my first meg down at Bayfront Park this weekend! Just laying there at the edge of the water looking up at me. Tip and one side are damaged and it's not the biggest by any means but it looks perfect to me! Does have really nice, sharp serrations, and the root is in great shape.

Well, still have yet to find my first Meg, but I am happy with this Mako and hemi. Mako is 1 5/8" and I love the color. Biggest hemi I've found so far at 1 3/8". Found a fair amount of decent sized teeth and a few verts as well.

The wife and I spent our anniversary weekend in Chesapeake Beach hunting shark teeth and fossils at Bayfront Park. We had a great time! Most of the teeth were small, with the biggest being a decent Mako about 1.25". After Saturday, we ended up with 405 shark teeth, a couple small porpoise teeth a handful of small shark verts, a few porpoise verts, a fishtail vert, a small stingray tail, ray plates and several pieces of bone that look like ribs. As soon as I figure out how to get my pics under 2MB, I will put them up for everyone to see. You guys were right. Going around that first point was the key. Also learned to never stop looking. My biggest tooth was found out in the open, after at least 20 people walked past it. Couldn't believe it!!! Thanks again for all the help and suggestions everyone gave me in my last post.

Headed out for a trip to Bayfront Park on Wednesday with my GirlFriend to see if any megs would come our way. Although we didn't find any megs we did find some cool things. One of the pictures shows something I cant identify, its fossilized for sure but I can't tell what it is. Maybe coprolite? Also found a sweet Dolphin tooth and shark vert.
Boneheadz

It's been a really long time since I last went hunting at Bayfront Park. So I took the trip down there to see what i could find. It was a beautiful day out, but with nice days comes a ton of people down on the beach. I headed around the cliffs and the number of people dropped haha. The water was murky and having people beat me down there resulted in not finding much that day. I was able to find a nice vert and a jaw bone that looks like to me to be either dolphin or porpoise. There was also a lot of cave ins along the cliffs so everyone be careful out there!
Boneheadz

I found this slightly pointed, flat-bottomed, small, black and dense bone on Brownie's Beach/Bayfront Park on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
I was thinking that it looked like a tortoise fossil that I saw on another page.
What do you think?
Top View with the nickel.
Side view - held aloft by soldiers.
View of the bottom.

This question may make me seem dumb, but I can't figure it out and I feel especially slow tonight....
I just got back from a trip to Brownie's Beach/Bayfront Park Maryland, in the Calvert Cliffs Region and I found this bone/fossil.
Can anyone tell if it is modern or a fossil? What do you think it is from? I have a guess, but would like to hear what others think first, without biasing them.
Photos:
http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream
http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream
http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream
http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream
http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream
Thanks in advance, to you fossil experts out there!